"Thinking about it carefully, although killers are certainly hateful, everything has cause and effect. Compared with the mastermind behind the scenes who disregards human life and manipulates everything, the executor's sins are not quite so grave. The judgment of justice should always fall upon the person holding the knife, not the powerless blade itself."
But Sakura shook her head and looked down at her bloodstained hands.
"My hands are covered in blood. That is a sin I can never erase, Dr. Mei. You don't need to make excuses for me."
"Perhaps I've also been influenced by Vill-V's unpredictable personality. Sakura, you're not our killing tool, much less MOTH's cleanup machine. Since you've joined us, you're our companion. Even if these sins still cannot be cast aside, from now on, we'll bear them together."
"Sakura, you're someone with a warm heart. Please remember that. For Rin's sake, and for your own, Sakura."
"...Companions?"
Sakura had flawlessly completed dozens of missions involving assassinations, pretending to be an ally before killing the target, and even personally killing fellow assassins.
All this time, Sakura had believed there was nothing else in her world. There was only her younger sister, Rin.
Yet at this moment, someone had declared herself Sakura's companion even after seeing the face of the ruthless killer she had become. Even Sakura's numb heart could not help but ripple slightly.
However, the heart of an assassin molded by Cocoon was not so easy to thaw.
Even if Sakura herself wanted to break free from it, doing so would not be easy.
Sakura quickly rejected those unnecessary thoughts. Scheming people were always skilled at deceiving others with sweet words. Who knew whether Mei's words were trustworthy?
All Sakura needed to do was complete Dr. Mei's mission and then redeem Rin. Nothing more.
The ruthless assassin sealed off her heart once again and replied coldly, "Mm. I understand."
Even though Sakura concealed it well, Dr. Mei was still in physical contact with her and noticed the faintest trace of hesitation.
Sure enough, copying Vill-V's way of speaking was much more effective. It seemed Vill-V had already grasped Sakura's psychological profile completely.
The fact that words like these could shake her proved exactly what Vill-V had said. Sakura's heart had not yet been completely corroded by Project Cocoon.
A pure sanctuary still remained within her heart.
However, some of what Dr. Mei had just said had truly come from the bottom of her heart as well.
She forced herself upright again and staggered forward while supporting herself against the wall. "Let's go. We still have important things to do."
"Now that those people know about Dr. Newton's death and the Honkai Eruption in Dusk City, they should no longer be able to restrain themselves."
"Let's draw that fire onto them."
Just as Dr. Mei was explaining the plan, they unexpectedly ran into someone in the corridor.
"Minori? What are you doing here?"
Dr. Mei looked at the timid bespectacled girl in surprise. Hadn't MOTH's higher-ups cleared this entire area?
"Um... Captain Kevin asked me to protect Dr. Newton."
Minori raised the communicator in her hand, with Kevin's message clearly displayed on it. Then Minori noticed Mei's condition and asked with concern, "Dr. Mei, are you all right?"
"I'm fine. I just skipped breakfast, so I'm a little anemic..."
Dr. Mei nodded. Although Kevin trusted her greatly, he was clearly not quite as confident in the absent-minded Dr. Newton.
Ever since seeing Dr. Newton's unreliable "true self" and learning that Mei was actually the real administrator of the Engineering Department, Kevin had started paying extra attention to Dr. Newton.
"Dr. Newton is inside. She just went through an assassination attempt and isn't in very good condition. Take good care of her."
Dr. Newton genuinely needed someone with her right now. Letting Minori look after her should not cause any major problems. Minori had arrived at just the right time.
Dr. Mei did not intend to explain Sakura's identity to Minori, nor was there any need. Minori was a teammate Kevin trusted, and the two of them knew each other's backgrounds. Kevin would sometimes tell Mei about Minori's past as well, so she could be considered one of their own.
With Kevin absent, Dr. Mei felt reassured leaving Minori together with Dr. Newton.
Dr. Mei left with Sakura.
Once they were gone, Minori removed her glasses and loosened the hair tie holding her ponytail.
"I've finally waited long enough..."
Minori's ordinarily gentle expression vanished, replaced by the sharpness of a warrior.
All of Kevin's teammates were dead. How could someone who had still been able to stand beside Kevin on that kind of battlefield possibly be ordinary?
Timid, weak, innocent—every bit of it had been an act.
Her true identity was one of the Constellations of the Mad Hatter organization—Scorpio, an assassin who had infiltrated MOTH and waited for opportunities to kill important figures.
Completely at ease, she knocked on the door of Newton's laboratory, casually picked up a knife from the floor, and toyed with it in her hand as a dangerous gleam flashed through her eyes. "Dr. Newton, do you like beef offal?"
...
3,600 HW of Honkai energy.
It was a terrifying number. At such a concentration, Honkai energy could do far more than turn an entire region into a dead zone. It was even enough to distort some of reality's rules.
Yet the streets of the Time District before them remained peaceful and tranquil, without the slightest sign of Honkai.
Pedestrians strolled along the roads while robots quietly cleaned up garbage and cyberpsychos.
But the indicator unmistakably displayed "3,600 HW," making Vill-V seriously suspect for a while that the device itself was broken.
Expert: "This isn't one of my creations. Feel free to doubt it all you want..."
Vill-V repeatedly recalibrated the indicator, but the result remained unchanged.
Expert: "I've checked it. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the Honkai energy detector."
"Strange. With Honkai energy this high, how come we haven't seen a single Honkai Beast or zombie?"
Everyone continued walking along the road beneath bright sunlight and pleasant weather.
Aside from the commotion inside the karaoke club earlier, everything seemed impossibly peaceful.
It was like they had wandered into some kind of ghost story.
"By the way, Vill-V, where exactly are you taking us?" Hua asked bluntly.
Only after Hua asked did Vill-V shudder and realize that while lost in thought, she had unconsciously led everyone a considerable distance.
Vill-V herself was baffled, yet her feet never stopped as she continued walking in a particular direction.
"Huh? I don't know either. My intuition just keeps telling me this is the direction I should go."
Only then did Vill-V realize something was wrong with herself.
"What is this? Threads of fate? Or..."
Before she could think further, a man in an impeccably neat white shirt and slacks approached them head-on.
A corporate employee badge hung around his neck, and he carried a classic black briefcase in one hand.
Before anyone could ask what he wanted, the sudden crack of gunfire shattered the silence.
The briefcase wrapped around his arm and transformed into a Gatling gun as shrieking bullets tore through the air.
Hua reacted first, shielding Vill-V and Bronya behind her while holding the Taixuan Divine Sword across her chest.
Sparks scattered as Hua blocked the ambushing bullets with the Taixuan Divine Sword.
At the same time, the rather useless Odin recognized the man. "I have seen this person before. He is a business manager for Heliopolis Life Sciences. I have dealt with him previously."
The instant the man in the white shirt and slacks attacked, Bronya also acted with reaction speed honed to competitive-gaming levels. Otherwise, that Gatling-gun arm modified by Heliopolis Life Sciences would have fired far more than just a few bullets.
"For some reason, people in this city really seem to have a thing for Gatling guns."
Vill-V turned toward Bronya, who was swiping through a floating screen. "Bronya, what's the situation?"
In fact, nearly everyone in the Time District had auxiliary memory chips installed, and those chips were connected to the Heliopolis Life Sciences network. Bronya could also choose to hack into his chip memory through the neural-interface port in his brain.
However, programs involving memory were extremely complex, far beyond Bronya's current capabilities.
After all, Bronya was only a hacker Vill-V had trained through an intensive crash course. She had yet to fully uncover her own potential as a hacker.
"He really is just a business manager. His work mainly involves negotiating with clients, maintaining contact, making proposals, collecting payments, and similar duties. He's basically a senior salesperson."
"To the 'Company,' he's an insignificant minor employee. Even if he disappeared, someone else would immediately replace him."
"How pitiful. It seems we won't be able to get any useful intelligence from him." Hua looked at the man being controlled by a program, a trace of pity passing through her eyes.
"No. Even if he's only a business manager, he's still a genuine full-time employee of the Company and a middle manager at that. Heliopolis Life Sciences has no reason to send an utterly combat-incapable office worker here alone to deal with us."
Vill-V folded her arms and analyzed the situation.
"His presence here means Heliopolis Life Sciences assigned him some kind of task."
Hua picked up the thread at exactly the right moment. "What kind of task?"
"For example... a client?"
As Vill-V spoke, she walked over to the nearest alloy door.
"Bronya."
"Understood... Access-control system unlocked."
Click.
With the metallic snap of the magnetic lock, the alloy door opened.
A young girl with indigo shoulder-length hair appeared before them.
A page-shaped picture-book bookmark was pinched between her fingertips, while a pair of pitch-black butterflies were reflected in her red eyes.
The eerie butterflies beat their wings like ferrymen sent from hell.
"Teacher Vill-V, you found Seele."